Jackson and co. ended up with the wooden spoon last year, chiefly due to a 13-6 defeat against Saturday’s opponents Italy on enemy soil.

However at Murrayfield there were no such concerns this weekend. Despite the Azzurri arriving on the back of a thrilling win over France they were easily seen off in a four-try, 34-10 win.

The pick of the scores came with a 90-metre dash from Stuart Hogg with the flying full-back joined among the try-scorers by Tim Visser, Matt Scott and Sean Lamont. 

And with Scotland now looking forward to back-to-back home clashes against Ireland and Wales, Jackson is painting a rosy picture of this year’s campaign.

“There was a bit of relief (beating Italy).  There was a lot of pressure on us this week. We knew we had to get off to a winning start at Murrayfield and we managed to do that, so it’s a relief,” said Jackson.

“We can look further on in the competition because we are in a solid position with a couple of home games coming up. We will be looking to get wins there and that will stand us in great stead going forward.”